Hurt
by KickPrevails
Summary: Neglect, rejection, loneliness... these were all things Maya dealt with every day. She never understood how Riley could always be so smiley, and she wanted nothing more than for Riley to feel the pain that she goes through. Maya plans to make sure Riley's just as damaged as she always is, without realizing that her actions towards Riley are turning her into a monster herself...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys! Well, GMW is certainly a fun show to write about, and this awful idea of mine came up out of nowhere.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, this would have happened. Just kidding, I'll cry if this ever happens on the show.**

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><p>Maya undeniably had a hard life. She was the damsel in distress, the broken glass that could only be fixed with super glue.<p>

Riley was the super glue.

It took Maya a while to realize how dependent she was on others. Ever since her receiving of the "cool" award, she'd been called independent by everyone she knew.

Until Missy Bradford came along.

Maya stood up for herself, as always, until Missy told her she was too reliant on Riley for everything.

She denied it at school and shot something back at Missy like she always would, but when she got home, she realized just how right Missy was.

Family issues? She's always go to Riley. Boy issues? To Riley. Any other issues? Riley. Riley was her vent, her counselor of some sort.

And Riley always made it right.

She wanted to be grateful, but all she really could be when thinking about it was angry.

She was angry that Riley was so nice and sweet and helpful and she could never be. She was mad that Riley always sympathized with her without knowing the true feeling of neglect, rejection, or loneliness.

Maya couldn't take it anymore. She got more upset with Riley each day. She didn't want to be the person who depended on Riley all the time. She wanted Riley to depend on her. She wanted Riley to experience what she had to day by day.

Maybe if that happened, she wouldn't be angry at Riley anymore. Sure, Maya was fourteen, and you'd think the average fourteen-year-old could tell a good plan from a stupid one.

Maya couldn't even think that way, however. She was angry, and anger makes you reckless and stupid.

So Maya came up with a plan to help Riley understand.

This would require a lot of meddling.

~.x.x.x.~

"Riley," Lucas said.

"Lucas!" Riley responded. She giddily ran over to him, slowing to a walk when she was closer.

Maya, behind Riley, took a deep breath. She was about to start with phase one of her plan. This was going to be good.

"Riley, can I talk to Lucas alone for a minute?" Maya said.

"Oh…" Riley said. "Uh, sure! I'll, um, go see Farkle." With that, Riley began to walk away. Lucas shot a confused look at her, but she just shrugged, finding Farkle and leaning onto his desk.

"Come here, Cowboy," Maya said, gesturing towards the almost empty hallway. Still confused, Lucas followed suit.

When they were out of earshot, Maya began to talk.

"You like Riley?"

Lucas raised his eyebrows at her sudden question and statement. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, trying to find the right words.

"It's kinda obvious. You go up to her whenever you can, you always smile when she's around, and a certain Farkle also brought up that you talk about her a lot."

Lucas frowned at the ground.

"Dang it, Farkle!" he murmured.

"So you do, how cute," Maya said with a fake smile. "Just so you know, Riley doesn't feel the same way."

"Really?" Lucas said with a sad expression plastered onto his face.

"Yeah. I don't think you know her the way I do. She uses so many guys to get what she wants. She saw you as another pretty face and attractive body and acted all sweet to get you to like her."

"That can't be right," Lucas said, his voice catching in his throat.

"Oh, but it is. She was going to actually ask you out later on today so you could hang out at her house and… well, you know…" Maya shuddered.

Lucas now looked insulted and kind of angry.

"Maya, I don't know why you'd lie about something like this, but it's really sick. Riley would never use a bunch of guys for that, she's too innocent. I'm gonna go." Lucas turned and walked back into the classroom.

Maya felt strangely unlike herself, but she also felt a pleasure too. She hadn't stopped to even consider how terrible she was being. She just needed Riley to feel empty like she always was.

She'd find a way to turn this around. She was really smart, after all. Smarter than she was ever given credit for.

~.x.x.x.~

Around lunchtime, Maya spotted Riley heading over to Lucas and Farkle, tray in hand. She grabbed Riley by the elbow and pulled her to a table in the corner.

"But Mayaaa, Lucaaas!" Riley groaned with her sad eyes. Maya felt herself start to get annoyed by Riley's obnoxious voice and expression.

"Little plant, we need to have a talk," Maya said.

They both sat down at the empty, barren table, and Maya began chatting away.

"I think you should ask out Lucas. Today," she said.

Riley dropped the sandwich she was holding back onto her tray.

"W-what? I couldn't do that! He'd say no, Maya," Riley whined.

"Remember when I pulled Lucas out of the room earlier today?" Maya said. "I did it to see if he liked you. He does."

"A-are you serious?" Riley said, her face lighting up at the instant. Maya enthusiastically nodded, being proud that she didn't have to lie entirely to her best friend.

"He's too scared to ask you out, but I know he'd accept if you did it."

"Wait, if he likes me, why would he be too scared?"

"I didn't tell him you liked him back. But now you know he likes you back so you have the advantage. You have to do it, Riles."

Riley nodded, confidence sparking in her eyes.

"Where would he and I go?"

"Maybe your house? You guys could watch some movies on the couch, talk and maybe cuddle a little. You'd have fun."

Riley looked up, seemingly pondering the situation. She turned back to Maya, a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Okay, but why today?"

"Because didn't you tell me that your parents were taking Auggie to a birthday party tonight? That would mean a chance alone with Lucas."

Riley's face flushed. "I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"You don't have to be. I'm just sure that you'd like it a lot more if you were alone with him then if your parents were over your shoulder the whole time. Besides, Lucas respects you. He wouldn't do anything you weren't comfortable with.

"That's true…" Riley nodded. She looked up at Maya with a smile. "Okay, I'll ask him later on!"

"Good girl!" Maya said.

"Um, but Maya… Would you mind coming with me when I ask him? I don't want to do it alone," Riley said.

"I don't mind at all, I'm here for any support you need," Maya said, smiling. Riley giggled and bounced up and down.

"Now, let's finish up our lunch, because you wouldn't want to talk to your dream guy on an empty stomach!"

Riley nodded eagerly and began stuffing her face with her food. Maya chuckled.

This was going to be a lot easier than she'd planned.

~.x.x.x.~

Lucas had approached Riley at her locker.

"Oh, hi Lucas!" Riley said, blushing slightly as she shoved some notebooks into her locker.

"Hey Riley," he said, smiling. He leaned against some nearby lockers, watching her place books in her locker and exchange others out.

Maya appeared at Riley's side as she closed her locker. Lucas's look of happiness changed to disgust.

"Maya, I need to talk to you for a second," Riley said, pulling her best friend a few feet away from Lucas. Once they were out of earshot, Riley began sputtering.

"Oh, Maya, I can't do it!"

"Shh, yes you can. Just suck it up, go over there, and ask him if he wants to hang at your place later on. It's not that hard," Maya said.

Riley breathed in and out slowly.

"Okay, I can do it."

She walked back over to Lucas, Maya on her heels.

"Um, Lucas, I have something I want to ask you," Riley said.

Lucas's expression changed, remembering that Maya mentioned Riley would ask him out today.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over to my house later, like on a date? We could, umm, watch some movies… and, oh! My parents won't be there, so, you know, yeah," Riley said, looking down in embarrassment in her speech.

Lucas raised his eyebrows and furrowed them, looking at Maya. She mouthed, "I told you," to him. Lucas's mouth opened slightly in shock. Could he have been this wrong about Riley?

He shook his head in anger, realizing that Maya was right. She _was_ just using him for the wrong reasons like she did a bunch of other guys.

"That's messed up," he said to Riley, who looked back up at him in shock.

"What?"

"No way in hell am I going to just be your playboy. Stay away from me," he said, walking away.

Riley watched him walk off, eyes stinging with tears. His words felt like stab wounds. She turned to Maya, who was faking a sad expression.

"Come here," she said.

Riley fell into her arms and sobbed into her shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay… now you know how I've felt…"

Maya smiled. For some reason, she felt this refreshing. She loved the fact that this wasn't even the half of it. Riley had a lot more coming for her.

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><p><strong>Well this was pretty hard for me to write.<strong>

**Please review and tell me your thoughts on the chapter! Please also tell me if you want me to continue or not. I probably won't continue the story unless you guys want me to.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for the follows, favorites, and, especially, reviews! You don't know how much it means to know you like the story. I'll be continuing with no doubt. You guys are amazing!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, it would air every week, not just a few weeks with a break.**

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><p>Maya <em>was<em> going to put Riley through more.

She _was_ going to introduce her to the feeling of loneliness, the feeling of your parents not being there when you needed them.

Maya dealt with it, so Riley should too.

She was thinking of a way to make it so, that is, until school started on Monday.

This was the next school day after the incident with Riley and Lucas, which was last Friday. Though reassuring Riley through texts with support, Maya refused to go to her house.

She felt bad having to look Riley straight in the eye, knowing she was the cause of Lucas's rejection.

Maya, honestly, had no idea what to expect on Monday, but Lucas to be avoiding Riley. She was stupid for expecting Riley to have recovered, even if it was a little.

No, Riley had been crushing on this boy for months on end by now. How could she think Riley was all better?

She hadn't buzzed in at Riley's house like she normally did each morning. She made sure to avoid her at all costs on the subway. She must have done a very good job because she didn't see Riley anywhere.

She entered the school, found her locker, grabbed her bag out of it and made her way to Mr. Matthew's class. As always, some students were already there, but Cory himself wasn't.

She sat at her desk in the front but couldn't help hearing a distant chatter in the hallway near the door. She was only able to make out a few words, however.

"Did you hear?... Riley Matthews… SLUT!" And a bunch of giggling followed. Maya ignored it.

It was then that Maya realized what an awful best friend she was.

These girls were talking badly about her best friend, and she was letting them.

Yes, she was the cause of this rumor to even start, but she had to attempt to convince herself that she wasn't in order to be a true friend to Riley again.

So she pushed anything that she'd done in the past week out of her mind, stood up, and treaded over to the group of girls.

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked casually. One of the girls that Maya recognized to be on the cheerleading squad gave her a disgusted look.

"Um, who gave you a right to talk to me?"

"What she means is," a pretty Asian girl interrupted. "Shouldn't you know already? Aren't you Riley's best friend?"

Maya shook away her guilt and spoke.

"She didn't talk to me over the weekend. Why, did something happen?"

The group of girls continued to stare at Maya, then broke out in another fit of giggles.

"Well, your _friend_ has been flaunting her body off at the boys here. Like Lucas," a blonde girl said. "Jack from the baseball team told Chelsea from cheerleading. Poor guy!"

"I think you should tame her," the cheerleader giggled.

"Well," Maya said. "_I_ think _you_ should keep your big nose out of other people's lives because you don't know what they go through."

Maya turned before a response could be given and rushed back into the room.

Once in her seat again, Maya began thinking of how the rumor could have gotten around. Sure, she did want Riley to feel how she had to feel, but she didn't intend for it to go all around the school.

Remembering what the blonde girl had said about someone on the baseball team telling a cheerleader, she concluded–very thoroughly, at that–that Lucas had told Billy, Billy had told the baseball team, the baseball team had told the cheerleaders, and the cheerleaders had told, well, everyone.

Maya felt worse and worse as more and more people filled the room. She was scared of what people would say about Riley, of what people would do to Riley. Her innocent, bubbly best friend could turn into a closed-off, exposed target.

And it would be all Maya's fault.

Maya shook of the feeling and knew that as long as she stayed uninvolved with Riley, she wouldn't feel as bad.

But how could she be uninvolved? It was her best friend!

Maya pictured a miniature angel popping up on her left shoulder and a devil popping up on her right.

_Just don't get involved. You did say Riley had to fight her own battles sometime, right? Now she has to learn to grow up, just like you had to so early._ The devil's voice rang in her ears as she nodded.

_Get involved, not being involved would be selfish! "Oh, hey, I'm going to let my best friend suffer just so I can finally feel good about myself!" who does that?! A monster. That's who does that. You're not a monster, Maya, so don't become one._

Both creatures disappeared from her shoulders as Riley entered the room.

Immediately, all chatter was silenced. Everyone was staring at Riley–well, everyone except for Lucas. As if wanting her dad to come to make it all stop, she turned back towards the hall, hoping to see Cory standing there with open arms.

Instead, laughter was heard behind her.

Her eyebrows curved up in sadness as she turned back into the classroom, finding her seat and sitting down.

Farkle, sitting behind her, hadn't been talking to her. Maya figured Lucas must have told him all about the moment last Friday. Farkle probably made a vow not to speak to Riley.

But, he still slowly and carefully removed the sign that read "slut" from Riley's back, so quietly that she wouldn't even notice he did it.

She didn't seem to notice it was there in the first place, after all.

Riley felt eyes on her back, but she tried her best to ignore them, staring in a straight line towards the front of the room. The laughter and feeling of staring stopped suddenly when Cory entered the room.

"Okay, class, we won't be using our textbooks much today. This is just going to be a lecture. Though this occurred quite a bit in history, I'm going to start by talking to you all about it first. Because this not only happened in wars, but it happens every day, in life and friendships around us.

"Who here has experienced betrayal?"

~.x.x.x.~

The day played out very roughly for both Riley and Maya. Riley was followed by some laughing groups of girls, which she just blatantly ignored.

Maya was shaken for the entire day because of Cory's lesson. He was so thorough in his thoughts and opinions, and it made her feel like the guiltiest person on the planet. She had betrayed Riley, after all, and for some reason, she was only worrying that Cory knew what she'd done.

She shrugged it off as the final bell rang, signaling the leave of the students. Maya slowly packed up, found her locker, and, as she did daily, shoved her bag into the locker, picking up her homework folder and making her way towards the exit.

Nearby, however, she saw Riley and Lucas chattering near the front door. She stopped in the middle of the hall to listen.

"That's not why I asked you at all! Maya told me to! It's because I've liked you for so long and she said I had to have the courage!"

"Well I was told that you only asked me out for sex like you did a bunch of other guys!"

Riley's muscles tensed up and she retreated slowly.

"I could never," she said softly. "Who told you that?! Who could be so awful–"

Riley stopped speaking as Lucas stared at Maya. Maya knew she was in trouble then.

"She did," Lucas said, gesturing towards her. Riley followed Lucas's finger to Maya.

Maya would never be able to forget Riley's scarred expression. Her eyes grew wide and teary, her mouth was agape slightly, and she was shaking.

Maya shook her head, now fully realizing her mistake. She approached Riley, now more sympathetic than ever.

"Oh, Riles, I'm so–"

"How… could… you?!" Riley cried, tears finally spilling over her eyes. Her tone wasn't angry, nor sad–it was hurt. She ran out of the school in a rush.

Maya was set on going after her, but Lucas's glare stopped her.

"I was right," he grumbled. "You _are_ sick."

He was the one to rush after Riley, leaving Maya a shocked, broken mess. She shook her head, covered her ears, and ran to the girl's bathroom for a few minutes of cover.

Once she saw that it was empty, she cried.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors of any sort, I just wanted to get this chapter out to you guys as quickly as I could!<strong>

**Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter!**

**(Also, what couples would you like to see in this story? Riley and Lucas, Maya and Lucas, Riley and Farkle, Maya and Josh, none - I'd love to hear your inputs!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of updates! School's been hectic and it's been nearly impossible to write anything throughout the school week.**

**But coming back to 13 extremely sweet reviews is amazing! Thank you guys. Your support is what's driving me to continue.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, Cory would always be in a banana suit. Don't ask.**

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><p>It didn't take too long for Lucas to catch up with Riley. He was an athlete, after all.<p>

He had caught up to her in a clear field of grass in between the school and the townhouses ahead that led to the subway. Not many students crossed this field on a daily basis besides Riley, Lucas and Maya—they concluded they were the only ones who rode the subway. That probably wasn't true, but it seemed that way.

"Riley, stop," Lucas shouted, panting as he continued to run inches on her tail. She didn't stop, however, which led to her stepping too shortly and tripping on the ground. She fell onto the muddy grass and groaned, not wanting to get back up.

Lucas found her fallen body and stopped running. He lowered himself on the ground next to her.

"Whenever you're in the mood to sit up, I wanna talk," he said, sliding his bag off of his back and onto the ground behind him.

As he waited for Riley to show any signs of being alive, he couldn't help but eye her. She was a beautiful girl, classy, thin body and healthy hair. Even after whatever had happened, he couldn't ever think of her any less beautiful than she always was to him. He continued to beat himself up over the fact that some of her pain was his fault for telling Billy what had happened.

Soon, Riley pushed herself up, taking off her bookbag and brushing off her pink sweater. She sat next to Lucas but didn't make eye contact.

Lucas turned to her.

"I'm not Mr. Perfect…" he started. Riley jumped a little in alert of his sudden speech, but still didn't look at him. "I'm really not at all. I wish I was, though, because if I was Mr. Perfect, I could've changed everything so I didn't believe Maya when she said what she said…"

He lightly grasped Riley's arm, turning her towards him as he faced her.

"I'm sorry, Riles. I was an idiot. Everyone at the school should be attacking me, not you."

"I thought," she said. "I thought you liked me. Maya was lying to me, of course, but I thought, even if you didn't like me, you still valued my friendship enough to _trust_ me…"

"Hey," Lucas said. "I do like you, I do. Even before all of this, I did. I just–"

"You don't have to lie, Lucas…" Riley said, standing up. "If you liked me, you wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have done that. I… I'm going. Bye."

Riley picked up her stuff and began to walk from the field.

"C'mon Riley, wait, please," Lucas called after her, only resulting in her walking faster. Lucas groaned, rolled over onto the grass, and sighed, watching the clouds begin to cry.

"I feel the same," Lucas said absentmindedly to the sky, as rain soaked his white V-neck.

~.x.x.x.~

"I'm so stupid…" Maya repeated over and over to herself. Though it was the end of the day and girls in clubs tended to use the restroom beforehand, the bathroom was empty. Maya had taken this liberty to lock herself in the biggest stall at the far side of the restroom.

Maya didn't know what to think. She hadn't thought of the consequences to her rash actions before doing them. Anger had controlled her and had dug her into a hole that she couldn't escape from. Why didn't she see this coming?

"I feel like I'm going crazy…" Maya muttered to herself. And she did. She was convinced now more than ever that something was very wrong with her. Why else would she have done what she did? She was technically still a kid, and a confused one at that—she'd messed up and didn't know how to fix it. She just didn't understand.

After a while, she knew she'd have to get up and go home. She didn't want to ride the subway with Riley and Lucas doing the same, but she soon realized she couldn't anyway. Checking her watch, she saw the time was 4:08 (school dismisses at 3:30, exactly how long had she been hiding?) and the subway left at 4:00, meaning she'd have to wait around another hour and a half for the subway to get back.

Figuring she might as well head over to the subway station now, she left the bathroom and headed into the hall, quickly taking notice that it was raining—very heavily, at that. She sighed, realizing she had nothing to cover her and that she was about to get soaked. Bracing herself, she began to head towards the door—

"Maya?"

Maya quickly turned at the sound of her name to see Farkle, squirrelly little Farkle.

"What are you still doing here?" Farkle asked.

"Tutoring," Maya lied. "Why are _you_ here?"

"AV club let out early, I was about to go. My mom's waiting outside."

Maya gave a short nod.

"Well, I have to get to the subway. Do you may be have a spare turtleneck I can use to cover my head or something?"

Farkle looked at the ceiling in a ponderous manner, then back at Maya.

"How about I give you a ride home? I know where you live after all, and I wouldn't want you getting soaked out there."

Maya tensed up slightly at the offer, then shook her head.

"I'll pass. You're not going out of your way for me."

"Yes I am, especially when you'd be stuck in the rain for another hour and a half," Farkle noted. Maya internally gasped when she realized he knew the subway schedule.

"Come on," Farkle said, heading over to the front door and holding it for her. Regrettably, Maya walked outside, hiding her bubbly smile from him.

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><p><strong>Well wasn't this a cute chapter?<strong>

**PlEaSe ReViEw because I love anything you guys have to say!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yay, FanFiction is back up! I wanted to get the chapter out right after I finished it, but... I had to wait a little while. Sad face.**

**Anywho, here's another chappy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, the writers would stop hinting Lucaya on Twitter. Sorry.**

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><p>Life had been making Riley sick.<p>

She'd been avoiding Lucas and Maya at all costs. What Maya did to her was unforgivable and Riley insisted that she would rather _die_ than have to go through with what Maya put her through again. Riley was upset with Lucas for being a part of Maya's cruel plan (or so she was convinced on, he wouldn't have rejected her either way if he actually liked her).

Aside from that, none of her other friends tried to talk to her anymore, and the rest of the school either gave her weird looks, talked about her behind her back, or bullied her head-on.

Riley was so tired.

Tuesday, the day after her talk with Lucas and Maya's revelation, things only went downhill. Missy hounded her while she was changing out of her gym clothes in the locker room, saying things along the lines of, "You're too small, what kind of guy would want that?" and "I'm surprised you're not sore or red from all the guys you play with." She teased Riley about her smallness minute after minute, making her feel worth even less than before.

At lunchtime, she couldn't even bring herself to go to the cafeteria, fearing the looks she'd get, the things people would say about her. She didn't want to sit with Farkle, and obviously Maya and Lucas, so she began to pack her own lunch and eat it in the bathroom.

At the end of the day, when Riley was packing up, a group of guys would come by to her locker and push the books out of her hands. Then, they'd all corner her and say rotten things.

"Who the hell would want to sleep with you?"

"Can I have a try? Oh, do I have to pay you for it?"

"The day we'll leave you alone will be the day you learn to close your legs!"

The worst part of the end of the school day was, along with the menacing boys, Riley would spot Maya in the corner of her eye. Maya would be watching Riley get hassled, and just stare. She wouldn't do anything like Riley thought the old Maya would. She'd just watch.

When she got home, Riley would lie on her bed and stare at the ceiling in complete anger. Some of her anger was irrational, but some was just. She was mad at Missy for treating her like nothing. She was mad at the boys for making her feel weak. She was mad at her dad for doing nothing about it (even though he didn't know what was happening to Riley). She was mad at Lucas for slowly breaking her heart every time someone spat something awful at her, knowing Lucas was the one who spread the rumors in the first place. She was mad at Maya for starting it, for lying to the boy she loved, and for being an awful best friend. And, lastly, she was mad at the whole school for believing it all.

So she'd stare blankly, crying sometimes, and just sitting until she'd get tired.

This became routine for the rest of the week.

Well, until Friday, of course.

By then, Riley had already wallowed in her own misery to the state of not seeing the point of anything. She didn't snap at Missy anymore, didn't put any effort into her lunch, didn't resist whatever male group of students cornered her, and merely brushed past the dirty looks and giggles she'd earn.

Ignoring Maya and Lucas wasn't hard anymore. She wouldn't go out of her way to avoid them, she'd just pretend they weren't there and tone them out if they tried to speak to her.

The day went routine as always. Today, Missy decided to come at Riley from a new angle and mess with her hair. Not having the energy or strength to _care_, Riley let her. When she walked the halls afterwards, nobody took too much notice of her now slightly more frizzy hair, they just focused on Riley being Riley and targeted that.

At lunchtime, she went to the bathroom again. On the way there, however, she heard giggles erupting from the bathroom. She decided to choose the irrational thing to do and go all the way across the school to the high school wing bathroom. It was more or less a three minute walk, but the good thing was that the highschoolers were in class during the seventh grade lunchtime, so Riley wouldn't have to deal with running into anybody else. Though she was risking being late to her next class, she wasn't in the mood to be made fun of any more than she had to be today.

Riley thoroughly thought out and decided in her last period that she would go to her locker after the afternoon announcements, so the boys wouldn't trouble her more than usual. Most of them would have to go to football after the announcements, anyway. Riley still couldn't figure out why she was going so out of her way to avoid these people, considering she felt too weak and tired to do anything of any use.

At the end of the day, she had buried her head in her arms and waited in her desk for the afternoon announcements to come on the intercom, where the principal would dismiss everyone, make club or sport notifications, and tell students to have a good afternoon and that "we'll see you tomorrow" (or, in today's case, Monday).

The announcements never came.

By 3:34, she began to grow curious, but she still kept her head in her arms.

The screech of the intercom made several students jump.

"Uhh, testing," the voice on the intercom said. Riley opened her eyes, recognizing the voice as… Lucas's?

This had to be Lucas, Riley'd studied that boy like a book for months now.

"Okay. Hello students, Lucas Friar here, 7th grade baseball captain and classroom president. I wanted to tell you all something."

Riley shook her head and closed her eyes once more. He probably just asked the principal if he could make the announcement today to tell everyone to go to the upcoming baseball game.

"You all know Riley Matthews, or at least you do by now. I just wanted to tell you that everything you've been told about her isn't true."

Riley's head began to rise at this.

"She's not what you think she is. In fact, she's the opposite. She's amazing and sweet and talented and innocent, and couldn't hurt a fly. She's someone we'd all be lucky to have as a friend. I spread some rumors about her that I thought were true, but they're not. I messed up so bad, and now everyone thinks she's this freak, but she's really not. Stop picking on her and start picking on me. She doesn't deserve any of the hate she's getting, it's my fault she's being attacked and I should be in her place. Leave her alone because she didn't do anything wrong.

"That is all," Lucas finished, and the intercom clicked off. A bunch of students were shooting alerted looks at one another, others were looking at Riley.

Riley was fully sitting up now, mouth wide open.

Moments later, the announcement was made by the principal for students to be dismissed. Everyone hurried out of the classroom, eager to tell their friends about the new event that had just occurred.

Riley slowly gathered her stuff, reflecting on what had just happened. All she could think was…

_Wow._

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><p><strong>Wow.<strong>

**Please tell me how you felt about this chapter! I love you all and thank you for sticking around to read this story. xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you guys all for the follows, favorites, and reviews!**

**The reviews are so sweet and make me glad to know you like the story. It means a lot.**

**Person - "An update on a Thursday? Whaaa?!"**

**I'm very bad at time management, so I try to get the chapters I write out to you guys as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own GMW because if I did, we wouldn't have to wait another month for Girl Meets First Date.**

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><p>Maya kept reflecting on the events of that day.<p>

Lucas helping Riley was really huge, something that Maya felt would never be done for her.

Now everything would be happy-go-lucky in Riley's world. Maya envied how everything could just go from bad to good for Riley in the matter of just a week. She was amazed.

Maya was forced to deal with her problems day by day. In fact, she even grew up with problems. Riley, however, has a perfect life that, if damaged, will just fix itself over time.

Maya can never be fixed.

Though she was upset about Riley getting the good life once again, this wasn't her main concern.

Ever since the incident last Friday, Maya had been so lonely. Nothing had changed aside from Riley and Lucas keeping their distances from her. Without them, she had nobody to talk to, nobody to lean on when she needed a shoulder.

Well, there was Farkle, but, in a way, she was scared to vent to him. She thought if she told him her troubles, she'd lose him too.

Maya was suffering, but for the first time in a long time, she was suffering alone.

She didn't know how she'd work herself out of this one.

At the moment, her mind had completely blocked out her previous anger. All she could think about was making things right with Riley. Her selfishness had burned through her eyes and made her mad at her best friend, but now she realized how much she needed Riley.

Somehow, though, there was a lingering thought in the back of Maya's head that told her she wasn't about to apologize to Riley for Riley's sake.

She sat in her empty house thinking of what she should do to make it up to Riley for hours, while occasionally pushing her thoughts aside to toast some pop-tarts and switch the song on her smartphone (which she was still getting used to using).

It was about seven when Maya decided she'd wing it and go to Riley's to try to talk to her.

Bundling up for the forecasted cold night, she grabbed her phone, locked the door, and left her home.

At about 7:30, it began to snow.

~.x.x.x.~

That night, Riley didn't mope around like she usually did.

She was at her window—staring outside, of course—but not thinking about her constant pain, or not feeling numb and weak like usual.

She was thinking about Lucas (which she got angry at herself for doing at first, but she gave in), but she couldn't decipher her emotions towards him—she was confused, shocked; she didn't know what to feel.

What Lucas did for her was _amazing_, though she had to keep reminding herself that she was supposed to be mad at him.

But who could be mad at those gorgeous emerald eyes, and that beautiful smile, and comforting voice—

Oh yeah. Riley was head over heels once again.

It was about 7-'o-clock, and Riley was changing into her fuzzy, long pajamas. Once she had them on, she instantly felt warmer than before.

She bounced onto her bed and rolled over on her stomach. Kicking her feet up and down, she got out her phone, typed in her passcode (which she'd switched from "Lucas" to a random number) and saw that there was a message she hadn't seen earlier.

She tapped the message icon with her finger.

"Hey" a text from Lucas read.

She hadn't texted Lucas since the whole incident—a week, she counted. She texted back a "hi".

As if he was waiting for her to respond, a new message was received seconds later. It read, "What's up?"

Riley began to text again, fingers moving like lightning, and she couldn't help but absentmindedly smile, knowing she was talking to Lucas.

"Nothing much, just hangin on my bed."

Riley didn't know what else to say, and she panicked, thinking she should say something else. But how was she supposed to respond to that?

"Good weather we're having!(:" she added to her previous text, quickly sending the message. She then hit her palm to her head.

"Weather, Riley, really?" she mumbled to herself. Her phone made a swishy sound signaling the receiving of a new message. She picked it up.

"Not really, it's freezing" the message from Lucas read. Riley furrowed her eyebrows, texting back.

"Are u outside?" she sent the message.

"Come on, Riley," she said to herself, facepalming once again. Of course he is, it's completely logical for him to be outside, he goes jogging some afternoons. Why Riley didn't remember that, she had no idea.

Her phone swished.

"Look outside." The message from Lucas read. Riley's mouth opened slightly. Confused and surprised, she rushed to the window, where a shivering Lucas stood.

"Lucas..!" Riley said in alarm, opening her window.

"Hey," Lucas smiled weakly. Riley tugged on his left arm and yanked him into her room.

"Oh, get in here–what are you doing here?"

Once Lucas was in Riley's room, Riley went over to her open window, which had already caused the temperature of her room to decrease by twenty degrees. She shut the window.

"I wanted to try apologizing again," he said, plain and simple. "Oh, and I'm prepared to perform a rope trick if you don't let me talk here."

Riley looked down and giggled slightly at his comment.

"I was really stupid for believing Maya. She'd told me other things before, like when our 'date' was gonna be, and that you'd be asking me out that day, and in the moment, it really phased me. I wasn't thinking straight and I should have known better.

"Like I said on the announcement today, I don't think of you badly at all. I think of you like the angel you are. Please forgive me, a week barely talking to you felt like a week of living without air. It was nearly impossible."

The corners of Riley's lips began to shift into a smile.

"Oh, and also," Lucas said. "In case that wasn't enough, I made you something to make up for everything."

Lucas pulled out a piece of paper from behind his back and handed it to Riley. She reached out and wearily grabbed a corner.

"I know I'm not the best author, but…" Lucas started, scratching the back of his head.

Riley, now reading the paper, began to melt as she read.

_Dear Riley:_

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue (well, they're actually purple),_

_I'll never, ever, ever meet anyone else like you._

_Your gorgeous chocolate eyes always get me going,_

_And your amazing smile always has me knowing._

_It has me knowing that you're the only one_

_Who could ever make me feel like I do._

_So, Riles, it's taken me a while to say this, but…_

_I've liked you for the longest time, and it's you and only you._

_Well, from that, you can kinda see I'm not the best at poetry, but I hope you get the message. The point is, I really, really like you. By the time you've read this, I'll probably be there watching you read this, so I'll just say it here because I don't have the guts to say it out loud… here it goes:_

_Will you be my girlfriend?_

—_Lucas_

Riley's head slowly rose, and after a few seconds, the pair's eyes met again.

Riley couldn't help but get a little tearfelt that this was happening. This was _real_, not just another dream.

Blinking her tears away, she nodded eagerly with her big smile that could light up a room.

Lucas returned what Riley thought was the biggest smile she's ever seen him give. He flung himself at her, holding her body snuggly and protectively against his. Each member of the pair snuck a smile without the other being able to see, which was packaged with a blush.

The two were so busy hugging out their hidden feelings that lingered for months on end that neither of them noticed that it had begun to snow.

* * *

><p><strong>Awwww!<strong>

**Please let me know how you felt about this chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts.(:**


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